Bridges Burn Down
by PromiseInTheRain
Summary: Rude and Tseng take over Shinra. Reno escapes the city, and tries to call the only person he can trust. I had this idea after watching the video for Payphone by Maroon 5, but this is NOT a songfic. Not sure how long it will be, hints of Relena. Rated T just in case for violence, probably won't be too violent though.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** Sorry the first chapter is so short, guys! I added two at once so you readers wouldn't hate me. They won't ever be this short again, I promise!

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Reno looked around at the destruction behind him. The city was engulfed in all sorts of flames and was the epitome of destruction. He was far enough away that he could not hear the screams of the people in Midgar that had survived the explosion.

Shinra had fallen. Tseng and Rude had gone against Rufus – and unknowingly Reno had helped them finish him off.

Reno shuddered, and with shaking hands, pulled out his cell phone.

"Pick up…" Reno mumbled. "Come on…"


	2. Chapter 2

2 Days Before

"Reno."

Reno put down the report he was working on and spun his chair around to face the dark-skinned bald man in the doorway. He stared at his reflection in the man's dark sunglasses.

"Lookin' sharp, Rude, what's shakin'?"

"Have you finished that report?" Rude grumbled.

"Workin' on it…" Reno murmered, pulling his long, red, ponytail tighter.

"Shinra wants it now," said Rude. "He wants to know what's taking so long."

"I'm almost finished," said Reno. "I can have it on his desk in an hour."

"Give it to me, I'll put it on his desk before I leave tonight."

"Thanks, buddy," Reno smiled. "I got a lot to catch up on."

"No kidding," said Rude as he turned to leave.

"I'll bring it to your office when it's done!" Reno called out.

When Reno finished the report, he brought it to Rude's office.

"Rude, you in here?" Reno asked, even though Rude's office was fairly small and Reno could tell that Rude was not in.

Reno sighed and left the report on Rude's desk. When he turned around, Elena was standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Elena. What's happening?"

"Why are you in Rude's office?" she asked.

"He's gonna relay this report to Shinra for me."

"Why don't you give it to him yourself?"

Reno shrugged. "I'm behind on a lot of work, I don't need the boss-man blowing up at me because of it."

Elena looked nervous.

"You alright?"

"Fine," said Elena quickly and forcefully. "I could bring it to President Shinra," she suggested.

"That's okay, Rude's got it covered," Reno smiled.

"Okay," said Elena, stepping out of the way as Reno left the office, locking the door behind him.

Elena stared at the door.

"Did you need something in there?" asked Reno when she didn't look away.

Elena shook her head. "Nope. See you later, Reno!" she said, running off to the exit.

"What's up with her?" Reno wondered. He shrugged and walked off to his office to finish his work.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi! You've reached Elena's phone, I can't answer right now, but leave a message so I can get back to you."

Reno sighed. He hung up and re-dialed the number. "Pick up, please…"

. . .

One Day Before

"I'm tellin' ya! I _did _get that report done! Rude told me he was going to give it to you."

"When did he say that?" Rufus Shinra said, glaring intensely at Reno.

"Last night, I told you," Reno said, crossing his arms. "Ask him what he did with it."

Rufus was about to protest, but he decided he didn't have time to argue and pushed past Reno in an attempt to find Rude.

"Sheesh, talk about temperamental…" Reno muttered, going back to his coffee.

"Hi, Reno," came a voice from behind him.

Reno turned around and looked up to find Elena staring down at him.

"Hey, Elena. Have a seat," he said, motioning to an empty chair next to him.

Elena remained standing. "No, I'm just about to leave. I couldn't help but hear your conversation with President Shinra…"

"Yeah, I should've let you take him that report after all, although it ain't like Rude to leave him hangin', you know what I mean?"

"Yeah…" Elena sighed, staring into space.

Reno noticed that she wasn't paying attention, and snapped his fingers in her face. "Hello? Earth to Elena? What are you gawking at?"

Elena snapped out of it. "Sorry? I have to go, see you later, Reno."

Reno raised an eyebrow as she swiftly left the room. "Women…" he muttered.

Later that day, as they were clocking out, Reno ran into Elena again.

"Hey, Elena. What's shakin'?" Reno asked.

Elena smiled. "Not much, Reno. Just gonna go home and get a good night's sleep."

"You got any plans for the weekend?"

Elena shook her head.

"Maybe we could make some," Reno said, taking a step closer.

Elena turned her head and took a step back. "What did you have in mind?" she asked cautiously.

"Excuse me," said Tseng, who was trying to punch out.

Reno and Elena stepped out of the way. "Sorry," they both muttered.

"Well?" Reno asked after Tseng had left.

"I'll… think about it. Bye, Reno."

"Bye…"

Reno scratched his head. "Women…"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I hope everyone's liking this story. Please review so I have a reason to continue! Also, some of the details are probably going to be smudged and it may not make a whole lot of sense, but bear with me and use your imagination. Thank you! ~xoxo~**

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One Hour Before

"Elena! What's going on?" Reno asked, grabbing Elena's arm.

"You don't know?" Elena shouted over the chaos that was erupting around them.

"People are running around fighting each other, friends attacking friends, it's not something you see every day. At least not at the office," Reno said, making dramatic gestures with his arm.

"Reno, everyone's choosing sides," Elena said, stepping back from the confused redhead who was still holding onto her wrist.

"Why? What for?" asked Reno, oblivious to Elena's desperate attempt to break from his grasp.

"Don't you pay any attention? Half the Turks are teamed up to take over Shinra! The other half of us are doing all they can to protect the president. Will you let _go?"_

"Protect the president from _who?" _Reno asked, tightening his grip on Elena's arm.

"Reno, you're hurting me-"

Reno let go of Elena's wrist, but put his arm out to stop her from going anywhere.

"Elena. Who's trying to attack the president?"

Elena looked straight into Reno's eyes. "You should know. You gave him the means to do it," Elena said.

"What are you talking about?" Reno exclaimed.

"That report you left on Rude's desk-"

"The one about the lifestream?"

Elena nodded. "People can do a lot of damage with that information…" she said, letting her voice trail off.

"Rude wouldn't do anything! Would he?"

"You don't have to believe it. I'm finding it hard myself, but I'm not going to take a chance by trusting him," Elena said, trying to step past Reno.

He stepped in front of her. "Then who _will _you trust?" he asked.

Elena stared at him, afraid of the words she wanted to say. She opened her mouth to speak, then shut it quickly.

"Elena?"

"Duck," said Elena.

"Huh?"

"Duck!"

Elena grabbed Reno's upper arm ad pulled him down just as a large object passed over their heads.

"The hell?!" Reno screeched, trying to see what the object was.

"Run!" Elena cried, grabbing Reno's hand and leading him down the hall.

Everywhere he looked, people were attacking each other. Guns were going off, people were being shot.

Anger was building up inside of Reno as he looked on in disgust. What was the point of it all?

Elena swiftly turned a corner and hid between two support beams, pulling Reno in with her. They ended up so close, they could barely move.

"Is this really appropriate, Elena?" Reno teased.

"Is that?"

"Right…" said Reno. "Not a good time for innuendos.

"Reno, this is important. I need to know who's side you're on."

"Huh?"

"I need to know I can trust you."

Reno stared at her, and she held his gaze. One wrong word and she could turn on him just as easily as the other Turks were turning on each other.

"Who's side are _you _on?" Reno asked carefully.

Elena's face fell. "If I tell you, how do I know you'll tell the truth?"

"Fine. In that case, neither."

"Huh?"

"If I choose one side, I'm just as bad as they are. I won't have that, no way. This time, I'm on my own side," said Reno smugly.

Elena's mouth curved into a smile. "In that case, let's go."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: It's been a while since I've updated. Sorry about that. This chapter is shorter, which is doubly bad on my part, but hopefully it's interesting enough. That's all I've really got to say, so enjoy and review please!**

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Ten Minutes Before

"Where the HELL is Elena?" Reno muttered to himself as he waited by the monument. She had told him to wait… That she would catch up. And still she wasn't here.

"Reno, you have to help me," someone called from behind him.

Reno spun around. "Tseng! Who's side are you-"

"Reno, Shinra's in trouble. I was supposed to take him to safety, but I've lost sight of him. Do you know where he is?"

Reno flinched. "No, I'm afraid not…" he said cautiously.

"No idea at all?" asked Tseng.

"Nada." Reno said.

"Then I'm afraid…" Tseng began, grabbing his weapon and aiming it at Reno, "I have no further use for you."

Reno quickly pulled out his weapon and blocked Tseng's multiple attacks, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt him.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Tseng exclaimed.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Tseng. We're friends!" Reno said.

"Friends? I believe that bridge has burned down, Reno."

"Well for once, I'm not the one who started the fire."

"Reno!"

Elena's voice distracted Reno just long enough that Tseng was able to make a blow to his head, knocking him unconscious, Elena's scream echoing through his head as he fell to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: sorry my update is so late again. I've actually got ****_extremely _****limited computer access. Updates will probably be slow for a long while, unfortunately. I'll try to update as much as I possibly can when I do have access though. Thanks for your patience, please rate and review! ~xoxo~**

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40 Minutes After

Reno had woken up in a daze, but almost immediately he remembered what was happening.

"Elena!" he called, knowing that she wasn't anywhere close. He ran frantically around the city, searching for someone, anyone, who may have seen what had happened to Elena, or at least, what Tseng and Rude were up to.

It took a while, but finally, he found a witness who had seen Tseng drag Elena toward the slums. That's where Reno was headed now.

"I'm not too late…" he muttered to himself, though in his head, he had no idea what he meant by that…

He reached the slums, but it seemed emptier than usual. Empty, but not quiet.

He heard shouting in one of the dilapidated buildings. It was muffled, but there was definitely something going on in there. He entered the building cautiously so he could hear better what was going on.

"I told you to get rid of him!"

"I didn't think you meant _kill _him!"

"You don't expect him to come looking for _her?!"_

Reno figured the voices were Rude and Tseng. He figured they were talking about him. And he also figured that Elena was with them. And that they were armed. Reno reached for his rod, but it was gone. Tseng must have taken it after knocking him unconscious.

"Shit…" Reno mouthed, careful not to make an actual sound.

"I'm sorry," Tseng's voice drifted through the wall.

"It doesn't matter. We'll get rid of her after we finish off Shinra, and Reno will be none the wiser," Rude stated.

"Why don't we get rid of her now? We have no further use of her, she's told us everything we need."

Reno clenched his fists.

"I suppose…"

"Not on my watch!" Reno said, bursting through the door. Elena was tied to a chair, unconscious. It looked like she had been tortured pretty bad.

"Reno!" Tseng and Rude exclaimed. As Reno had expected, both were armed.

"Fuck," Reno voiced. "I mean, if you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me too."

Reno immediately regretted saying that, seeing as how he was completely unarmed, and he knew they were planning on killing him anyway.

"That can be arranged," Tseng said, readying himself to fight.

Rude did the same.

"I'm not going to lose…" Reno thought, putting up his fists. "Not _that _ easily…"


End file.
